I enjoy the heck out of turning the Chestnut..something about reviving history I really take an interest in...for some interesting reads..Google American "Wormy" Chestnut if you want.. Hard to believe this wood covered 80% of the appalachian forest 200 years ago from Georgia to Maine and as far west as the Ohio Valley but very few remain today. There are a few old growth trees left that have been found and protected. Young trees of the original strain grow but not hardly more than 35 years before dying off. There efforts being made to genetically alter the trees to make it blight resistant but just not the same. The call below is from old growth Chestnut wood reclaimed from a church built 130 years ago near my hometown. Thanks for looking.

When I was a kid, the farm had a woods full of chestnut trees, some were huge. A couple of years ago I stopped and asked the farmer who bought the farm from us if I could go in and cut up some of the trees that fell, some were still standing but most were down. Nope we put a wood burner in the shop and use the down trees to heat it [:@].
They sold the old feedmill in town here that was one of the first buildings in town, it had all chestnut wood in the store and office, the counter and shelves were all chestnut, that counter was 2-1/2" thick, 20-1/2" wide, 15' long a solid slab of chestnut. The shelves were 1-1/2" thick, 15" wide, 8' long, there was 11 shelves. I asked the guy who bought it if I could get the counter and shelves out, or if he'd sell them to me? Nope Nope Nope I'm gonna build a shop there, and that old building is getting bulldozed down, nobody gettin nothing out of it!! [:@] Too bad the village would let him build his shop cuz it''s to close to the RR and the lumberyard. So now he owns a vacant lot that is too small to build on [8|].

A lot of folks see past the value of things...I hate to hear about wood like that gone to waste..I know where there is some old chestnut logs now in the woods..hard as a rock and usable.. but no way to get them out in log form unless by air..

Warbird, That terrain looks mild to some I cut firewood on and have logged, unless the access is a lot steeper. If the land owner would let you you could always cut pieces small enough to pack out for call wood. If there is a will there is a way. I logged out all the old chestnut logs on our farm years ago with just a small tractor. Even a ATV will drag a fair size chunk of wood.

just so I know what to look for- how would i identify an old american chestnut log? I know this area they were used for fences as well. I live in Illinois and rail splitting competitions were quite common place way back. During those competitions american chestnut was the preferred lumber. i'm sure there has to be some old fence posts in the woods around here!

Here is the main problem... This is Nat'l forest so already in the red..but with a wood permit can be cut and carried out or pulled with mules and horses except...The other part is its cutoff by a major Interstate at the base of the mountain..no pulloffs etc..Only way I can get in there is by foot and under the Interstate through a 4 ft culvert that runs about 75 yards under a 4 lane..I can get it..just going to be one piece at a time..[;)]